West Chester's national title hopes dashed in rainy North Carolina

Staff photos by Tom Kelly IV
West Chester wide receiver LaRonn Lee (7) shows his emotions following the West Chester University at Lenoir-Rhyne University (Hickory, NC) NCAA Division II semifinal game, Saturday December 14, 2013. WCU lost by a score of 42-14.

HICKORY, N.C. – It may defy the unwritten laws of football, but Lenoir-Rhyne University proved on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Division II semifinals that an offense doesn’t have to be balanced to be highly productive.

Benefitting from wet, slippery conditions, the host Bears did not attempt a forward pass and yet still upended West Chester, 42-14, thus preventing the Golden Rams from advancing further in the Division II playoffs than any WCU team in history. It was the most points surrendered by the Rams all season.

The win propelled Lenoir-Rhyne into next weekend’s national championship game against Northwest Missouri State. For West Chester, it was a heartbreaking end to an historic season that included a school record 13 wins, a share of the PSAC East championship and a memorable post-season run that came up two wins shy of a Division II crown.

“It was a disappointing end to a great season,” said West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan.

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“The conditions were horrible, but it was like that for both teams. It kind of stinks that we played a game as big as this in conditions like that. It was a grass field and it was horrible. What can you do?”

It was clear pretty early on that the sloppy conditions favored the home team’s triple option attack. Played in a cold, steady downpour that eventually turned the grass field at Moretz Stadium into a muddy quagmire, West Chester never got its vertical passing game untracked, and after some initial success, All-American tailback Rondell White and the running game also wilted.

“They put 10 defenders near the line of scrimmage because they knew we couldn’t throw -- we couldn’t grip the ball,” Zwaan complained. “The footballs were horrible to throw. They just couldn’t seem to dry the balls off and, unfortunately, that’s our offense. We knew we were going to have to score points to beat them and we just couldn’t do it. The weather had a big effect on us.”

And by the time its beleaguered defense finally made some adjustments and began slowing down LRU’s deceptive running scheme, it was too late. Lenoir-Rhyne gained 302 of its 451 rushing yards in the first half, which led to the largest deficit faced by WCU this season, 26-14.

“We had opportunities to make plays before we made any of the adjustments at halftime,” said linebacker Ronell Williams. “There are obviously some things we wish we could have changed.”

Overall, it was the most yards allowed on the ground by the Rams in 13 years. Most of the damage came on the quarterback keeper and the fullback dive. Signal caller Josh Justice finished with 175 yards, three touchdowns and three 2-point conversions. Fullbacks Isaiah Whitaker and Chris Robinson combined for 164 yards.

“They ran a great scheme,” said West Chester defensive end Chris DiValentino. “They had us on our heels at first. We threw in several defensive fronts and they had a call ready for just about everything. They executed and stayed on their blocks.

“We knew heading in if they had success with one or two plays, they were going to stick with it. We saw it in film.”

In the second half, the normally multifaceted WCU attack did not register a single first down. And the 213 yards of total offense was a season low by nearly 100.

The start was awfully encouraging, however, as Brandon Monk took the opening kickoff 70 yards. Two plays later, tight end Tim Brown hauled in a 9-yard scoring toss from Sean McCartney to put the Rams ahead just 55 seconds into the contest.

Lenoir-Rhyne responded immediately with a 67-yard march, capped off by a 33-yard burst up the middle by Whitaker, but the PAT went awry and WCU held on for a 7-6 lead. It was a harbinger of problems to come as the Bears followed it up with a quick strike early in the second quarter that featured a 57-yard scamper by another fullback, Robinson. The extra point failed again, however, as Blaise Schieler got a hand on the football.

The Rams regained the lead, briefly, when White grabbed a screen pass, broke a tackle and then outraced the rest for an electrifying play that covered 60 yards. But LRU closed out the half with two more touchdowns, the first culminating a three-play, 68-yard drive and the second coming on the heels of a McCartney interception.

In front by a dozen, the Bears put the hammer down with a third quarter possession that ate up more than eight minutes on the clock, and ended with Justice’s third TD of the day. West Chester hurt its own cause by roughing the punter and later the quarterback, which kept the 14-play series alive on two separate occasions. Lenoir-Rhyne added another TD in the final period after a bad snap on a WCU punt left the Bears with a short field.

“That drive hurt,” Williams said of the third quarter march that covered 84 yards.

“The referees made some calls and missed some calls, but that drive was huge for them,” Zwaan added.

The convergence of a ground-based offensive scheme and poor playing conditions provided the circumstances that enabled Lenoir-Rhyne (13-1 overall) to win a final four contest by running the ball 70 times and never once taking to the air.

“When it rains torrentially and the field is a complete quagmire than it’s a possibility that could happen. But normally that does not happen,” Zwaan said.

“The game today kind of exemplifies us as a football team,” Lenoir-Rhyne head coach Mike Houston said. “It was the worst weather conditions I’ve ever seen a game played in. We talked at halftime that the key the rest of the way was our mental toughness against theirs. I thought our kids did a great job of focusing what they had to do, play after, play, and not worrying about the weather.”

Playing in the final game of his wildly successful college career, White finished with 67 yards on 17 carries, the second lowest output of the season.

“Every time I went to cut, it was difficult,” White said. “But you can’t blame the weather. You have to play through it. And they had to play in it too.”

The setback halted a four-game winning streak and also an eight-game road winning streak that dated back to last season for West Chester (13-2 overall). Despite the disappointment, White and Williams were able to look at the big picture when assessing the 2013 campaign.

“It was really no surprise that we were able to get this far and set the school record for wins. It was just a great team this whole year,” White said.

“Just seeing how much we have grown together as a team was amazing,” Williams echoed. “And seeing the little things that weren’t OK in previous years, we weren’t going to let them happen again. The family-bond this group had is what sticks out most to me.”

NOTES: White surpassed the 3,000-yard plateau for all-purpose yards this season with the second quarter tally on a screen pass, becoming just the third player to do so in NCAA Division II history. White’s 3,107 yard total came up just 53 yards shy of eclipsing the record, set by Danny Woodhead of Chadron State (Neb.) in 2006...White’s final 2013 season stats include: 406 carries for 1,989 yards and 21 TDs; 75 catches for 843 yards and three TDs. White’s fouryear career numbers include: 844 carries for 4,336 yards and 41 rushing TDs; 182 catches for 2,221 yards and 14 TDs; 12 kickoff returns for 1,030 yards; 6 punt returns for 81...Zwaan is now 86 in the postseason with West Chester. The Golden Rams 15 games played also tied a singleseason record set in 2004 when West Chester was 114. It was the only other time WCU advanced to the semifinals...Kicker Shawn Leo converted both of his extra point attempts and finishes his career with 189 extra points. That is second most in PSAC history behind Bloomsburg’s Dan Fisher.